Tests, more tests, and SCIENCE!
And more fluff of course.
Isolation Ward Epsilon
Caprica City University Hospital
Caprica
"Nike." Punctuating it with a nudge from her foot, Jess tried to get her friend to wake up, an attempt that was stubbornly resisted.
The early-morning sunlight illuminated Nike's still sleeping form, still asleep, and to Jessie's frustration, still laying her head on the Marine's uniform. It was her own fault really, she'd emptied the entire duffel and forgot her clothes for the next day was all bundled in with the blankets. So here she was, wearing nothing but her underwear and an onesie with no way to actually get her uniform without waking Nike up. Saying her name had no effect, escalating to nudges still did nothing, which left Jess running out of options that didn't include hitting her.
Glancing at the clock showed it just past 9 in the morning, a time Jess would typically be eating breakfast at, which was currently impossible without a uniform. She shuddered, imaging having to go eat wearing the onesie... which wouldn't work if only because her cash card was in her wallet, in her uniform. As if Jess needed any more reminders, her stomach grumbled, craving food that she had no way to get. Wait a second... if she were hungry, then Nike would be downright ravenous at this time!
Making for the ward door, she opened it just enough to peek her head out, the Sentries on duty giving Jess odd looks at the sudden appearance. Looking between the two soldiers, Jessie put on her best smile, hoping her plan would work.
"Morning Troopers! I've got a... slight issue in here", the sentries turning to look at the door as she spoke, "And I'd really appreciate it if one of you could run down to the kitchens and ask them to do up like... ten pounds of mince and a dozen eggs?"
The mirrored looks of disbelief both men sent her were obvious even through the tinted visors, the sheer amount of food Jess was asking for beggaring belief.
"I assume it's for your... friend in there?", Jess's nod in confirmation causing the soldier to mutter something that sounded like 'For Frak's sake' under his breath, "Why can't you go and ask them yourself, Ma'am?"
The Marine's flush of embarrassment probably made them think something entirely different, so best she cleared up that misconception fast.
"She fell asleep on my uniform for the day and I've got nothing else to wear, sure as Frak not in public." The until-then silent trooper tried to hide his chuckle with a cough, his compatriot throwing him a look.
"Alright then. Hawkins will head down and bring the food back once it's ready", the now-named Hawkins waving his hands as if to ward off the duty, "Isn't that right Private?"
Given the first sentry had Corporal's insignia on his collar, Jess had to fight down a grin as Private Hawkins slunk off in the direction of the elevator, turning the corner and disappearing from sight. A quiet cough from the remaining sentry brought her attention to the soldier, the man fidgeting under her gaze for some reason.
"Sorry Ma'am, but I have to ask... did your friend in there really rip an IFV to pieces?", the man's curiosity undermining his attempts at formality, "It's just, we, that is the squad, we've seen the video from Phoebus but the lads think it's just a hoax, but it really happened, didn't it?"
Having seen the video after the battle itself, Jess had to agree that at first glance it looked too strange to be true, especially to those that hadn't seen Nike in the flesh. It stood to reason it had disseminated through the grapevine enough to be seen by people like this sentry. Seeing the chance to embellish the tale a little, all in good sport, of course, Jess began speaking.
"Oh yea, Nike charged a Valiant down, tanked two shells from its main gun, and ripped the turret clean off the hull like opening a can", Jessie's hands making a motion like peeling the lid off a can as she told the tale, "She dug her claws right into the turret ring, while heavily wounded mind, and just ripped it right off like that!"
It felt like a lifetime ago, which it had been at most two months, so retelling the story now didn't dredge up the emotions it used to. With Nike still sleeping and needing to wait for the food, Jess regaled the eagerly listening Sentry with how Nike had ripped the Centurion Commander limb from limb screaming. The appreciative noises from the audience of one encouraged the Marine to keep talking, regaling them with an embellished recount of the Battle of the Subway as she called it in her head. She lost track of time, getting caught up in enjoying telling the story for the joy of it, just getting to the part where Nike had gotten drunk and started humming the Colonial Anthem when the sound of rattling wheels grew in the distance.
Laboring behind a covered trolley piled high with cooked meat and eggs, Private Hawkins pushed it towards the ward, the smell of cooked beef reaching Jess's nose. Reaching the door, Jessie grabbed the trolley and offered the Private a thankful smile, the man flashing her a thumbs up before taking up his position again. The Corporal looked put-off at having the story interrupted, but he still held open the ward door so Jessie could pull it through into the room proper, the damn thing weighing a ton for some reason. Then again, it was piled high with enough food to feed a squad... or just Nike for breakfast. Rolling the trolley towards the Beastie, Jess could see the smell of food was already causing her friend to stir, nostrils sniffing the scents.
Jess gave a mental fist-pump as Nike finally woke up, in the end, all it took was to park a trolley laden with food in front of her nose. She expected the Beastie to dig in right away, no doubt starving, but to her confusion, Nike kept sniffing at the trolley... or more specifically the covered lower half. Whatever she could smell was stopping her eating, which for Nike was outright unusual, her friend's love of food infamous among the Irregulars.
Turning her bandaged gaze towards Jess, she kept turning her head between the trolley and Jessie. "Thanks... thanks for the breakfast in bed Jess, but quick question. Why is there a kid hiding on the trolley, is this a joke and people think I eat kids or something?"
Jess nearly gave herself whiplash looking at the covered trolley in shock, Nike's words eliciting a surprised 'eep' from behind the cloth before an honest-to-the Lords kid rolled out from the side facing the Marine. The kid, a girl, couldn't have been older than 12, maybe 10 years old, dressed in what looked like miniature nurses scrubs. Clambering to her feet, Jess and Nike looked on in shock as the girl caught sight of Nike, went pale, and ran to hide behind Jessie. Feeling a pair of arms wrap around her waist, the Marine looked down to see the girl peeking around her to watch Nike warily.
Finding her voice first, Jess scrambled to find a question to ask the kid, dismissing all of them bar the most pressing. "Hey Kid, what's your name? And why did you sneak in here, this place is off-limits."
The girl's switch from warily watching Nike to beaming up at Jess gave the woman a sinking feeling in her stomach. Jessie had a sneaking suspicion the kid was like her at that age, downright devious and far too prone to adventuring.
"M'names Kasey Miss! Ma works here as a nurse and she said she helped a super hurt Monster and so I wanted to see if it was true!" Far too cheerful and an exploration streak a mile wide... just like herself when she was a kid, all smiles to lower people's guards.
A rattling hiss from Nike had the kid, Kasey, looking at the Beastie in confusion. No doubt the damn lump found the current situation hilarious.
"I like this Kid, she's got Moxie in spades! So, what do you think of the big, scary Monster, Kid?" A surprised gasp from behind her had Jess grinning, the kid clearly not expecting Nike to talk or sound as soft as she did.
The arms clamped around her waist disappeared as Kasey found the nerve to step out and look at Nike properly, the kid's eyes darting to the beeping medical equipment and all over the Beastie. She stayed out of reach, but seeing the Beastie up close was clearly driving her curiosity crazy.
Whatever answer Nike was expecting, probably something about her looking scary, that wasn't what she got. "You must be super heavy to not fit on a bed, Ma says only really fat people who break beds lie on the floor like you do!"
A choking, strangled cough came from Nike's throat, Kasey's answer making her speechless in surprise. Jess lost her fight to not laugh, the Marine bursting into a fit of giggles that had her bent over gasping for breath. While the kid was right about Nike's weight, the way she'd put it was frakking hilarious, especially given how embarrassed her friend got any time her weight was brought up. Pawing for a chair, Jessie fell onto it and struggled to control her giggles, slowly winning the fight until she could look at the kid without doing much more than smiling.
"Nike is heavy, yes, but she's lying on the floor because there are no beds large enough to fit her. You should apologize for calling her fat, it's not a nice thing to say." While she had no kid siblings herself, Privates were basically the same thing, right? So Jess just spoke to the kid as she'd speak to a Private who'd stuck a foot in their mouth.
That worked the trick, Kasey staring at her shoes and mumbling an apology towards Nike, her friend accepting it with a gentle thank you. Like a switch being flipped, the girl's expression turned curious as she crept towards Nike, looking fascinated at seeing her up close. Kasey was soon badgering Nike with a barrage of questions, about everything from her skin color to why she had so much bone on the outside. Far from the burning embarrassment of before, Nike handled the rapid-fire questions with a grace that surprised Jessie, dealing with a random kid popping up in the ward in her stride.
Jess was content to watch the two chitchat, Kasey was a never-ending fountain of questions, requests, and excitable behavior, which given her age was normal. Her willingness to touch Nike, the kid delightedly clapping as Nike showed off her teeth most certainly not normal behavior for a girl her age. For her part, Nike was careful and insistent at warning the kid whenever she got too close to any of the numerous sharp edges along her exoskeleton, warnings which the hyperactive kid surprisingly followed. If Jess had to give a word for the scene before her, it was wholesome, Nike displaying patience with Kasey that Jess wouldn't be able to match in the Beastie's position.
If her own childhood was any indication, the girl's Mother would be frantically looking for her, and given she'd told Kasey about Nike, chances were she was on the way here right now. For now, though, it looked like Nike's hunger had brought the chatter to a standstill, Kasey watching in awe as the Beastie demolished the entire trolley worth of food within a minute. Shaking her head, the Marine stood up and wandered close enough to hear what they were saying.
"Is that you fed for the day, Miss Nike? Even Da doesn't eat that much and he's super tall!" To someone unused to Nike's expansive diet, watching her eat all that and have room for more was certainly a shock.
"Nope! That's only breakfast for me Kid", The Beastie laughing in her own way as Kasey gasped at that, "After this, it's second breakfast, then Elevenses, then lunch and then second lunch and so..."
Jessie's laughter interrupted Nike's little speech, her and Kasey turning to look at the Marine laughing for some reason.
"Nike's making half of those up Kasey, she just needs to eat as much food as eight men each day, more if she's hurt like now." Jess watched the mental gears turn in the kid's head, smiling as Kasey's mouth formed an O as she looked at Nike.
A commotion from the corridor outside drew Jess's attention, a raised female voice exchanging harried words with the two sentries, the noise loud enough for Nike and Kasey to look towards the doors. The kid went pale, oddly enough deciding to hide behind Nike's bulk out of sight, to the bemusement of said Beastie. Just in time too, as the woman's voice outside rose to a pitch before the doors slammed open, a woman in her thirties striding through despite the protests of Private Hawkins, his attempts at stopping the angry nurse failing.
The woman looked similar enough to Kasey, likely her mother going from the resemblance and nurse uniform. Jess threw her hands up reflexively as the Nurse's angry gaze turned the Marines way, sighing in relief as the woman turned her eyes towards Nike, who looked equally quailed.
"KASEY BETHANY GAETA, GET OUT FROM THERE THIS INSTANT YOUNG LADY!" The lungs on this petite woman rivaled those of the DI's Jess remembered from Bootcamp, making her stiffen instinctively.
With obvious reluctance, Kasey slunk out from behind Nike's armored head, staring at her shoes as she picked her way around Nike and towards her mother. The anger in her mother's body turned to relief as the woman swept her daughter up in a relieved hug, clearly happy to have found her wayward daughter. The two embraced for a long moment, the mother realizing first that Jess and Nike were watching the entire thing. Tugging her daughter to the side, the lady looked at Nike with no small degree of fear, though she did a good job of hiding it. For a Civilian she was good, but Jess was much better at spotting it and knew Nike could smell the woman's fear easily enough.
"I'm sorry Ma'am... and Ma'am, about the interruption. My daughter inherited her father's curiosity and it was my fault she even knew about you two. You have my apologies and I assure you you'll never need to worry about this again."
Kasey looked up at her mother, clearly feeling betrayed at not seeing her latest interest again. Jess was about to speak, to accept the apology for both her and Nike... until the Beastie beat her to the punch.
Nike's voice carried no small amount of laughter with it, softening her voice until it could just be heard by the Nurse. "I assure you, despite her... unorthodox arrival, your daughter has been nothing but courteous, she's got quite the inquisitive mind and a healthy curiosity for a child her age. I can say with full honesty Ma'am, it was a delight to answer her questions, truthfully."
Watching the Nurse gape like a fish in shock brought a smile to Jess's lips, seeing Kasey looking proud at acting like Nike talking was perfectly normal turned the smile into a grin. To her credit, the woman recovered quickly, looking between her daughter and Nike as if the girl her friend spoke about was truly her daughter. Slowly, a hesitant smile graced the nurse's face, the compliments about Kasey doing the trick to break the tension about Nike. Seeing it made Jess feel a spike of jealousy, her own mother having been incredibly disproving of Jessie's childhood adventures, unlike Kasey's mom.
"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Lacey Gaeta, Kacey's mom, though I'm certain she's already introduced herself", the older woman giving her daughter a proud smile, "It's certainly a surprise to hear how well she behaved, especially given how she snuck in."
Jess didn't feel like letting slip how she'd initially acted, it wasn't her place to say. "She was no bother at all Lacey, I say for the both of us she's welcome to return for as long as we're here, with your supervision of course."
The mention of returning had Lacey frowning, though not for long as she looked down to Kasey giving her damn effective puppy eyes, in Jess's opinion. Truly, the power of kids to channel complete innocence with their eyes alone was some kind of superpower, hell, it was affecting her and the kid wasn't even hers!
"Please Ma, Please?! I'll be super good, I promise! I want pictures to show Da when he gets home!" Jess had to marvel at Kasey's ability to go from an excitable helion to the picture of innocence and good behavior.
It was a forlorn hope for the girl's mother to turn that down, the woman's nod bringing a loud cheer from her daughter. Sharing a look with Nike, the Beastie facing her even without sight, Jessie knew her friend was happy with this turn of events, the chance to just unwind and educating someone about herself something that would undoubtedly help her mood.
Tugging her hand out of her mother's grip, Kasey bounded over and to the shock of her mom, wrapped her arms around Nike's neck as much as possible. Jess wished she'd grabbed her camera because this moment deserved to be immortalized in a picture, the sight of a kid happily hugging Nike enough to warm any heart. From the ward entrance, the distinctive flash, and whine of a camera having taken a photo had everyone present looking at the suddenly sheepish Private Hawkins. Seeing everyone looking at his camera, he offered the device in a gloved hand, letting it hang from the strap.
"I hope it turned out good, had to take that one quic... Did I do something wrong?"
The Gibbs Slap his superior gave him upside the head was pretty funny, as was the bickering between them, a good way to start the day in Jess's opinion.
And I was supposed to have Doctor Bakersfield meeting Nike this chapter.
I guess I didn't have the fluff out of my system after yesterday, so enjoy!